Fifthly, These expressions of giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, implies the delight, pleasure, content, and satisfaction that they took in those cdjojuinable practices : Bom. i. 32, ' They have chosen their own ways, and their souls delight in their abominations.' ' They had pleasure in unrighteousness,' Isa. Ixvi. 3 ; 2 Thes. ii. 12 ; 2 Pet. ii. 13. Luther tells us of a certain grandee in his country, that was so besotted with the sin of whoredom, that he was not ashamed to say, that if he might ever live here, and be carried from one whore-house to another, there to satisfy his lusts, he would never desire any other heaven. This filthy grandee did afterwards breathe out his wretched soul betwixt two notorious harlots. All the pleasure and heaven that these filthy Sodomites look after, was to satisfy their brutish lusts. Hark, scholar, said the harlot to Apuleius, it is but a bitter-sweet that you are so fond of ; and this the Sodomites found true at the long run, when God showered down fire and brim- stone upon them. But,
Sixthly and lastly, These words of giving themselves over to forni- cation, and going after strange flesh, implies their great settled security in those brutish practices. The old world was not more secure when God swept them away with a flood. Gen. vi., than the Sodomites were secure when God rained fire and brimstone out of heaven upon them, Gen. xix. 14, Mercury could not kill Argus till he had cast him into a sleep, and with an enchanted rod closed his eyes. No more could the devil have hurt these Sodomites, if he had not first lulled them asleep in the bed of security. Carnal security opens the door for all impiety to enter into the soul, Pompey, when he had in vain assaulted a city, and could not take it by force, devised this stratagem in way of agreement ; he told them he would leave the siege, and make peace with them, upon condition that they would let in a few weak, sick and wounded soldiers among them to be cured. They let in the soldiers, and when the city was secure, the soldiers let in Pompey 's army. A carnal settled security will let in a whole army of lusts into
106 London's lamentations on [Isa. XLII. 24, 25.
the soul ; and this was the Sodomites' case. To sum up all, those expressions in Jude, (ver. 7,) of giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesli, do imply or take in these six things last mentioneil, wliich things will not stand with the truth of grace or state of grace ; and therefore those sins that are specified by Jude cannot be charged with any cleai', fair, or full evidence upon the people of God, who did truly fear him within or without the walls of London. But should this treatise fall into any of their hands who have given them- selves over to fornication, or to go after strange flesh, then I would say that it very highly concerns all such persons to lay their hands upon their loins, and to say, Ave are the very men, the sinners, the monsters that have turned a rich and populous city into a ruinous heap. But, 9. The ninth sin that brings the sore Judgment of fire upon a people, is profanation of the Sabbath : Jer. xvii. 27, ' But if you will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath-day, and not bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath-day ; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.' In this memorable scripture you may observe — (1.) A specification of the judgment that God will punish profaners of his Sabbath with, and that is fire; (2.) The specification of the object that this fire shall fall upon, viz., a city, not a town, a village, or any other mean place, but a city, a stately city, a populous city, a trading city, a secure city; (3.) Here is the specification of the city, viz., not every city neither, but Jerusalem, the city of cities, the best of cities, the beloved city, the joyous city, the glorious city, the renowned city, the crowned city, the metropolitan city, the city of God, the wonder of the world, the joy of the whole earth, Isa. lii. 1 ; Ps. xlviii. 1-8, and Ixxxvii. 3 ; Jer. xxii. 8 ; yet God threatens to destroy this Jerusalem with fire and flames for profaning of his Sabbath. But did God only threaten Jerusalem ? No, for he executed his threatenings upon it, as you may see in that 2 Kings XXV. 8-10 : 1 ' And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, (which is the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,) came Nebuzar-adan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, to Jerusalem: and he burnt the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.' The same you have Jer. lii. 12-14. The Jews were great profaners of the Sabbath : Neh. xiii. 15-18, ' In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses ; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath-day : and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sab])atli unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane the sabbath-day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring
1 So 2 Chron. xxxvi. 17-19; Ts. Ixxiv. 4-8.
ISA. XLII. 24, 25.] THE LATE FIERY DISPENSATION. 107